<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12265112</id><updated>2011-04-21T20:17:22.878-05:00</updated><title type='text'>Innermore</title><subtitle type='html'>Conversations with the divine mind.</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12265112/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>innermore</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08719985862293645905</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='14' height='32' src='http://www.blankbook.net/miket.jpg'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12265112.post-113782797494483692</id><published>2006-01-21T01:17:00.000-06:00</published><updated>2006-01-24T02:14:32.206-06:00</updated><title type='text'>About God</title><content type='html'>To think about God is a distortion.&lt;br /&gt;All of us have a distorted view of God.&lt;br /&gt;Even any thought that comes &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;from&lt;/span&gt; God&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;becomes distorted once it enters our minds.&lt;br /&gt;So maybe distortion isn't such a frightening thought after all.&lt;br /&gt;Applied thought is knowledge, applied knowledge is truth.&lt;br /&gt;Applied truth is wisdom&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;which is a reflection of the unsolved mazes&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;of our own distortions of God.&lt;br /&gt;For instance. . .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 0);"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;God created everything. . .&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;This is ultimate truth, but from our perspective&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;to say "God created everything" would include evil;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;a fundamental distortion of God.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God created everything &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;that is good.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God did not create evil.&lt;br /&gt;Evil is never done by, allowed by, or even thought of by God.&lt;br /&gt;God does not &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;perceive&lt;/span&gt; evil in any part of creation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Evil comes from choice&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;which means that God does not choose.&lt;br /&gt;God does not need to operate in this way&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;since all that God is and does is good.&lt;br /&gt;You could even dare to say that God does not &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;"do".&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On the other hand, choice is the way&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;the truth, and the life that the gospel spoke of.&lt;br /&gt;It is only by choice that you can find God.&lt;br /&gt;For you can only &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;decide&lt;/span&gt; to do good, you cannot be forced.&lt;br /&gt;To choose is to be conscious of your choices.&lt;br /&gt;And consciousness begins with instinct&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;and grows from moral awareness of,&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;to absolute conscious unity with, God.&lt;br /&gt;And all along lies the potential for error, for evil.&lt;br /&gt;But as we grow nearer to God, our necessity for choice and evil&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;fades.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 0);"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;God loves you. . .&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;True, but by nature the basic distortion would be:&lt;br /&gt;Does God love me &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;more&lt;/span&gt; than you?&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;or:&lt;br /&gt;Does God value His son Jesus more than that other son, Lucifer?&lt;br /&gt;To say that God loves us equally is a difficult truth to apply.&lt;br /&gt;Could God value every particle of creation&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;infinitely more than perhaps Himself?&lt;br /&gt;Apply that.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 0);"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;The atheist. . .&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;Atheism is the most ironic distortion of God I can think of.&lt;br /&gt;An atheist is a perfectionist that rejects all distorted views of God&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;in favor of the one &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;pure&lt;/span&gt; perception&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;that he knows could never possibly be found.&lt;br /&gt;So the conclusion is, God will never be found&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;and therefore God must not exist.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Nothing validates the existence of God more than the atheist.&lt;br /&gt;For there must first be a God&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;in order to conclude that God must not exist.&lt;br /&gt;Just the fact that the atheist is capable of reasoning this way&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;proves the existence of God.&lt;br /&gt;For God &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;is&lt;/span&gt; The One Pure Perception the atheist believes in&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;yet shall surely never find&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(not in this life anyway).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 0);"&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;God, a He or a She. . .&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;In the midst of all this nit-pickiness lies an amusing distortion.&lt;br /&gt;"God as both He and She" is truest.&lt;br /&gt;But God as Father, although a distortion&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;may be a healthier perspective.&lt;br /&gt;Part of human progress relies on the coordinated mechanism&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;of the masculine and the feminine;&lt;br /&gt;assertion with submission, the with&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;out&lt;/span&gt; and the with&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;in.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Father is a well-suited view of God because it describes Him as&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;a projector, a giver or provider.&lt;br /&gt;The Feminine God feels like feedback.&lt;br /&gt;God is the path She's on.&lt;br /&gt;The creation She moves in is Her.&lt;br /&gt;Those less traditional ideas may be truer distortions&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;than "The Lord is my shepherd", but perhaps too true.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Put it another way.&lt;br /&gt;The mother-and-child is at birth a unity.&lt;br /&gt;Little initial relational effort is required;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;the child came from the mother's womb.&lt;br /&gt;They are of one blood, nearly of one thought.&lt;br /&gt;Mother is a child's original environment.&lt;br /&gt;The father of that child however&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;welcomes himself into their environment.&lt;br /&gt;It is difficult for the father to be as intimate with his infant&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;as the mother initially can.&lt;br /&gt;But later, the father will &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;find&lt;/span&gt; that child&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;even as the child grows and seeks intimacy with him.&lt;br /&gt;God as Father seems to be a model of our earthly relationship.&lt;br /&gt;God as Mother seems to be a model further in our future.&lt;br /&gt;God as Both is the Ultimate.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God as Neither seems to miss the whole point.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12265112-113782797494483692?l=innermoreblog.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/feeds/113782797494483692/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12265112&amp;postID=113782797494483692' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12265112/posts/default/113782797494483692'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12265112/posts/default/113782797494483692'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/2006/01/about-god.html' title='About God'/><author><name>innermore</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08719985862293645905</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='14' height='32' src='http://www.blankbook.net/miket.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12265112.post-111385136348574522</id><published>2005-04-18T14:08:00.000-05:00</published><updated>2006-01-24T01:29:13.573-06:00</updated><title type='text'>Purpose of Life</title><content type='html'>The purpose of life is growth.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The way that you grow&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;is through the decisions that you and others make.&lt;br /&gt;Choices are a configuration of thoughts.&lt;br /&gt;Thoughts come from two places (at least)&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;your own mind and the divine Mind within you.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;blockquote style="color: rgb(102, 102, 0);"&gt;Inneraction with the divine Mind is called "spirituality".&lt;br /&gt;Communion with the divine Mind is called "worship".&lt;br /&gt;Unity with the divine Mind is unexpressible&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;in our current sphere of reality.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Reguarding spirituality:&lt;br /&gt;It seems that popular thinking today says that spirituality&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;needs to broaden its meaning to gain greater acceptance.&lt;br /&gt;Nothing could be further from the Truth or closer to the Truth.&lt;br /&gt;Spirituality; God-thinking&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;evolves from personality; Self-thinking.&lt;br /&gt;God &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;gives &lt;/span&gt;personality, among other things.&lt;br /&gt;So all &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;personal&lt;/span&gt; expression of spirituality is exclusively your own&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;(when you &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;choose&lt;/span&gt; to believe it).&lt;br /&gt;And that is the paradox.&lt;br /&gt;Spirituality is infinitely broad and absolutely exclusive.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But, somewhere in the middle of exclusivity and broadness is&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;the practical desire for human-to-human confirmation.&lt;br /&gt;A need to share your growth&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;to have your growth observed by another and measured.&lt;br /&gt;To make your life and its purpose &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;real&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;This is where religion comes in.&lt;br /&gt;Any agreed-upon, group-perception of spirituality is religion.&lt;br /&gt;The purpose of religion is clear;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;to &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;care&lt;/span&gt; for the personal &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;growth of each individual in your group.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, whenever the imperfect gather to seek the Perfect&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;much trouble can brew. . .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Many things can be said about the troublesomes of religion&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;but the questions that come to me &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;at this instant&lt;/span&gt; are:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Who said a religion had to last a long time?&lt;br /&gt;Why are only centuries-old religions regarded as "legitimate"?&lt;br /&gt;Why can't you and I just get together and grow?&lt;br /&gt;Isn't that true religion?&lt;br /&gt;On the other hand:&lt;br /&gt;Can something &lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;more&lt;/span&gt; than a spontaneous, temporary&lt;br /&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;religious gathering be defined as institutionalized?&lt;br /&gt;In other words, if I talk to God the same way twice, is that dogma?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What is an established religion?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;more later. . .&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/12265112-111385136348574522?l=innermoreblog.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/feeds/111385136348574522/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=12265112&amp;postID=111385136348574522' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12265112/posts/default/111385136348574522'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/12265112/posts/default/111385136348574522'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://innermoreblog.blogspot.com/2005/04/purpose-of-life.html' title='Purpose of Life'/><author><name>innermore</name><uri>http://www.blogger.com/profile/08719985862293645905</uri><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='14' height='32' src='http://www.blankbook.net/miket.jpg'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
